Mixed Media Primer or How NOT To Be Cookie Cutter

I've been asked about my references to MIXED MEDIA art and what it actually means. Mixed media is an art form that combines different mediums like acrylic paint, paper, inks, and maybe even "found" objects. It is a free form style that can be as different as the people who engage in its production. (That's MY definition anyway.)

The picture above, which I call "Tree of Life", is simply acrylic paint on canvas. I would not consider it to be Mixed Media. I used only acrylic and a canvas.


This painting, "Haven't Zinnia You In Awhile", is an example of Mixed Media and involves the following media: photography (blue vase with shadows and paint added); paper (cardstock added to give dimension to the pink, yellow and orange zinnias. I hand cut each petal then painted); white queen anne's lace flowers are hand painted with acrylic paint; background (a variety of papers and stamped designs); butterfly (paper...simply cut out and painted); distressing ink for overall glaze and Mod Podge to seal.


I painted the cross above for my Father in honor of his service in the Navy and presented it to him on Veteran's Day. Again the media used: Cross is painted and shadowed after cutting it out of paper; pictures are copies that were ModPodged onto the canvas; background consists of a variety of papers. This was not difficult and worked up in about 4 hours.


"The Future Looks Bright" is a 7x7" canvas and actually took longer to complete than the cross.
The sunflower consists of a center that is "shrunched up" tissue paper that has been ModPodged to death and then painted. The leaves are paper that has been painted. I used a base of tissue paper for texture and painted the blue and green with acrylic paint. The butterfly, I cut out and painted in the color orange. The time consuming part of this was the petal detail. Each was cut out of yellow cardstock and adhered to the flower. Then I painted and shaded the entire set of petals.



The men in the family don't care for "Remembrance", however, I love her and the canvas is hanging in my computer room...can't please everybody all the time...ha. She consists of a number of items: old dress patterns, scrap book papers that have been painted in the background, acrylics and copper wire. 16x20"canvas.


Below is a picture I did for my October Blog Giveaway. I used tissue, scrapbook papers and lots of paint and distressing ink. About 4 1/2 hours was used in this design.


This is my rendition of a Pottery Barn piece that I loved but could NOT afford...$339! It's fairly large...24x24...but all I used was acrylic paint, paper and distressing ink...love it and it cost me $5!

Up close and personal with "Life's Little Pleasures". One of my first and favorite pieces. Again I used tissue as a foundation for texture. I began making the flowers with scrapbook paper but decided against it and painted over them with acrylics. Newspaper leaves add a little of the unexpected. Brown dots are pieces of bubble wrap I used as a stamp.

This art is very forgiving. The more you practice, the more techniques you develop of your very own. I have found very few really good books on Mixed Media. Most are a little "over the top" for me. I am more of a traditionalist...but a wacky traditionalist. (Anyone who knows me well, will agree, I'm afraid.) I use to try to be mainstream...but my husband summed it up one day when he said, "You see life through 'different' eyes." I didn't think he meant it as a compliment then and I still don't, however, I quit trying to make my art something it wasn't and just let it express ME! Being different is not always easy, but it's a lot more fun than being a cookie cutter type person. Cookie cutter=Booooring!

Join me at Catch a Glimpse Thursday, Transformation Thursdays with the Shabby Chic Cottage and Shabby Nest's Frugal Fridays (see buttons on right!)

Blessings and peace,